What does "aborigine" mean?

An Aboriginal person from Australia (descending from, or a member of, one of the indigenous people(s) before British colonisation), Aboriginal Australian.

How do you pronounce "aborigine"?

Pronounced //ˌæb.əˈɹɪd͡ʒ.ə.ni//.

Aborigine

Q: What is a synonym for "aborigine"?

Common synonyms include: aboriginal, aboriginal, ab ovo, aboriginal australian, aboriginal australian, aboriginal people.

//ˌæb.əˈɹɪd͡ʒ.ə.ni// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1
An Aboriginal person from Australia (descending from, or a member of, one of the indigenous people(s) before British colonisation), Aboriginal Australian. dated, offensive
"Aborigines not to be counted in reckoning population."
2
A native inhabitant of a country; a member of the original people. countable, uncountable
3
an indigenous person who was born in a particular place wordnet
4
The native flora and fauna of an area. countable, in-plural, uncountable
5
a member of the people living in Australia when Europeans arrived wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

aboriginal aboriginal ab ovo aboriginal australian aboriginal australian aboriginal people

Antonyms

All antonyms

foreigner

Example

More examples

""Take all the land you want", said the Aborigine chief. "Oh no," said the English general, "we will take just an island." "And which island?" asked the Aborigine chief. "Just the island of Australia," replied the English general."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Back-formation from Aborigines.

Etymology 2

Back-formation from aborigines.

Related phrases

aboriginal australian indigenous people

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.